End of Innocence
by nycShadow32
Summary: Two years after Batman Returns, Corrine Beaumont is a thief until her actions put her in prison. In exchange for freedom, she goes on a mission to learn about The Penguin. It all goes wrong when he ends up falling in love with her. Please r&r!
1. Chapter 1

She looked up at the sky; it was another starless night in Gotham City. The moon was a pale yellow as it had risen to become it's full self. She pulled her leather jacket more tightly around her tall, thin frame. She was glad she had worn it; winter was not pleasant in the city.

Her small heels clicked loudly through the empty streets. Her breath had become more visible as she picked up her speed, trying to get to her apartment on the other side of town. She thought she had heard something; she stopped suddenly and spun around. But there was nothing there.

Her hair bounced up and down with a certain rhythm unbeknownst to her. She loved her hair; it was a short pixie-cut and raven-colored. It was the color that she had been in love with since as long as she could remember. Mainly because her father had loved it so much. The thought of her father brought back a memory of him.

_"Wake up sweetie, you don't want to be late!" Her father knocked on her door and opened it gently. _

_She giggled as she tried to remain motionless under her bed sheets. She hid at the end of her bed, curled up in a little ball._

_"What? Now where is my little princess?" He asked mockingly, trying to sound worried._

_It made her giggle harder, but she stifled it as much as a 6-year-old could._

_"Nope, not in the closet." He made a spectacle of jumping to the floor as he looked under the bed. "Huh, not under there either. Now where is my little Innie?" _

_"Hey!" She sprung out from under her purple covers, "Don't call me that!" She stood up to her full height of the bed. Her long, dark curls ran down her back messily as she tripped over her nightgown, which was too big for her. _

_He faked gasped, "Why Corrine! Wherever did you come from?" He swooped her into his big arms and ticked her._

_"Daddy! Stop it!" But she just laughed harder._

_"C'mon pumpkin, breakfast awaits you!" Her laughter rang out threw the house and they went to breakfast…_

The flashback made her smile. She missed her father so much; he wasn't supposed to leave her so early. Cancer was his demise, on her twelfth birthday. _It was so hard…_she thought, still walking, but not as fast.

She was already scarred from the death of her mother when she was five, a drunk driver crashed into their car on the way back from going to see a movie. The memory was vivid in her mind, even though she was young when it had happened. She still had a small scar from it; the glass had cut into her cheek.

She unconsciously rubbed her finger across the faded ridges; a habit that she only preformed whenever she was scared or worried.

Corrine definitely heard something, like movement behind her suddenly. She tuned around. "Whose there?" She demanded strongly, ready for anything.

She heard snickering, coming from the alleyway she just passed. "What's so funny?" She commanded.

As soon as she said that, a small gang of different sized men walked out of the shadows. All had a weapon of some sort; a chain, a bat, and some other objects that Corrine couldn't determine.

"Hey sweetheart, why don't you come a little closer, huh?" A large man two full heads taller then her stepped towards her. His gang members laughed.

"Get away from me you creep," she said as she started to walk away.

"Hey! He asked youz nicely, chica. I thinks youz should listen," Came little man barely up past her chin.

"That's okay, I'd rather not. Big, ugly, and stupid really aren't my type." She started walking faster. But the large man grabbed her arm, and got her purse instead.

"Hey boys, look what we got here!" He said triumphantly, holding it up

"Give that back you idiot!" She said, trying to make a grab for it.

He ignored her and opened it up, peering inside. He pulled out her I.D, and he tried to read it.

"Cor-inn-y P-U-mint," All his friends laughed at him. Him saying that sparked a memory.

After her father died, she was sent to live with her grandmother. But, she was really sick and she couldn't take of her properly. The government sent her to the Gotham City Orphanage for Catholic Children when she was fourteen. She remembered her first day.

"_Settle down, children, NOW!" Said a nun who slightly resembled a crow. "We have someone new today. Corin-n-y B-U-mont." She said as she tried to read her name off a small piece of paper._

_The fourteen-year-old Corrine stood up. She was beautiful as ever, still with her long raven-colored curls and bright blue eyes. "It's pronounced Cor-rin Bo-mont." She said it slowing, as if speaking to a younger child._

_The nun looked at her; obviously no one has ever corrected her before today. "What? What did you say?"_

"_My last name is pronounced Bo-mont. It's French. Please do not insult me, or my family's backround by saying it like you're in Special Ed."_

_Everyone in the room stopped and stared at the new girl in utter disbelief. Even the little toddlers stopped playing and watched, for they knew what was going to happen. _

"_Why, I never!" Said another nun, her hand over her heart. "Young lady! I"_

_But the crow-like nun stopped her, "I'll take this one Beatrice." She walked over to where Corrine was standing and walked around her, like a vulture circling it's prey._

"_What language to you and I speak, Miss. B-U-Mont?" She asked, peering down at her and circling her still._

_Corrine, sensing where this was going answered, "Je parle francais." She answered in perfect French._

_**Smack! **She saw a white-flash as the nun backhanded her across the face._

"_Wrong! We speak English! English! We do not speak French here!" She said spraying her with her acid spit. _

_Corrine looked at her with white-hot anger. "Do not touch me again, you horrid woman!" She was prepared this time for another blow, but it did not come._

"_This proves, that all the French are filthy pigs!" She said, finger pointed in the air. "Look at her, the French raise their children to be like this? A disgrace, simply a disgrace!" She pointed at Corrine, her gray eyes flashing._

_Never, in her whole life had Corrine wanted to hit someone so much, this woman insulted her father, her mother…but she didn't. Her dad would never approve of hitting a nun. She just turned and walked toward the door that lead to her bedroom…_

She was so angry that day for not hitting the nun. Now was a perfect time for revenge.

All the goons were laughing as he took out some tampons and pads form her bag, he dumped all the contents on the floor. She was seething now.

"Hey!" They looked at her, and she high kicked the large one in the face. "Ha!" She did it again. Blood streamed form his nose and mouth.

"What the-" He said, feeling the blood trickle down into his mouth.

She did another high kick, but left her heel dig into his neck and face as she walked up close to him and whispered in his ear, "It's pronounced Bo-mont." She struck her hand on her pressure point in his neck, rendering him unconscious immediately.

Corrine looked at the rest of his gang, they came at her. "Ha!" She kicked and punched her way threw the entire group, rendering each of them unconscious, one by one. But, there was another man left, and he had a gun.

Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead and down the rest of her face as she debated what to do. She was prepared to dodge the shot, but she didn't want to risk hurting herself for what was coming up in the following week. Suddenly she shouted out, "ROD!" Out of her purse, a small metal rod flew out and into her open hand.

The gang member looked at her dumbfounded, unaware of what was going on with this girl.

"Program zero six!" She yelled at it. Instantaneously, the rod changed, it folded in on itself until it altered itself to be a small handgun.

Quickly, she shot the gun at him, making the gun fly out of his hand into her outstretched one.

He looked at his own hand in shock, and then looked at her. Stumbling backwards, he quickly dashed away.

Corrine looked at the men on the ground before her. She picked up the contents of her purse off the ground and put them back. She shrunk her metal rod and put it it's pocket. She walked away form the scene thinking, _the orphanage had hardened me well._


	2. Chapter 2

"_Gahh!"_ Corrine woke up suddenly, her heart beating unnaturally fast. She exhaled, letting her breath out. It was still dark outside, but the sun was perking up in the distance, but not enough to let light into her room.

Her sheets stuck to her sweaty legs as she tore them off. She had the same dream again, the one that she had been having for the past few days now. Her father calling her name as she was running down a hallway. She hated dreams like these, giving false hope to her that her father is out there, waiting for her.

She brushed her fingers through her short hair as she looked at the digital clock next to her lamp on her bedside stand. The florescent lights blinked 7:01 cruelly at her, taunting her because they knew she wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep now. She went to her closet and put on her silk bathroom over her nightwear, which consisted of a pink camisole and white mesh shorts.

Corrinesighed, and went over to her window, which was in fact two doors leading to a small balcony. Corrine opened them up and went into the brisk morning air. She breathed it in deeply, taking in as much as she could get. As in this was her last breath. She loved the smell of the city in the morning; it was he second favorite to smell of coffee. It was the only good thing about mornings… having coffee to perk her up.

She looked down onto the street, only a few cars were driving, but most of them were parked up alongside the sidewalk. She wrapped her robe around her figure and went back inside. Corrine put on the coffee, and went to sit on her couch in the living room.

She flipped on the T.V, and tuned it to the news. _Maybe my escapade of last night made it to the early bird news…_ she turned up the volume.

A thin man with a black comb over appeared on the screen, _"…and in other news, police have found several gang members of 'the Night Crawlers' gang beaten ferociously in an alleyway of near the Gotham City Orphanage late last night. These men have been wanted for terrorizing the streets for over a year and they will be put in jail with no bail money set."_ He turned to face the other camera._ "Police have said the gang members would not confirm who has done the act against them, but the ringleader of the group mentioned something about a "crazy chika" to the cameras before he was led into police custody."_

She smiled; she felt she has done something good, even if her intention was to beat the shit out of them for trying to steal her purse. Even though stealing was _her_ main job. The thought stirred her, "I have to prepare." Corrine had her coffee and she flipped off the television and went into her bedroom to change out of her nightwear.

She put on a purple v-neck shirtand loose sweatpants. She went to the back of her closet and kicked open a loose part in the wall. Peering inside, she reached in and took out two blueprints. Unrolling them, she went into her kitchen and placed them flat out on her large table. Corrine put two paperweights and each of the sides, which made it lay completely flat. She looked at it closely.

Corrine felt excited as she looked over the outlines of the Gotham City Museum and Gardens. She always felt the same rush whenever she was planning a big steal, the more dangerous, the higher the rush. And this was her biggest steal yet, an original Hamigasi painting, worth over millions. And if she sold it on the black market, she could even get billions for it.

She took out the felt-tipped magic marker and marked her entire plan out on the blueprint.

"I'll enter through here…." She mumbled, circling her entrance with her red marker. She continued to mark her places throughout the outline. For the past few weeks, she had been going there twice a day, monitoring how tight the security was and secretly been stealing the security tapes. Every time she was there, she had a different disguise; she didn't want to take any chances.

Corrine finished, and looked proudly at the newly red map. But she wasn't entirely finished. She still had to make some adjustments to her Rod. She went to fetch it from her purse and brought out her tools and laptop to tune it up. She was very proud of this device, having made it from scratch when she was only 15. Of coarse, it was very plain, and not to well developed, but it was her first weapon.

When she was older, out of the orphanage, she continued to work on her prototype, making it into the perfect weapon. It was voice activated, and only her voice could activate it. Saying which program she desired, it would transform into that weapon.

"Okay… now…" she mumbled, as she tried make a new program. "Got it!" She exclaimed with happiness as she finally got the last bit of information into it.

She turned to her laptop and said into her microphone, "New program, install program 802; alpha D." The rod buzzed as it gathered its new program. It stopped. She put the Rod back in her purse. Corrine took the blueprints and placed them back into the lose wall in her closet.

Smiling, she sat back on her couch with her coffee and let her day begin.

**A/N Thank you to the only ppl that reviewed! I really like reviews! Plez do so!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Her heart raced as she stepped out of the taxicab. It was Wednesday, the immensely important day, the day that she had been waiting for the entire week. Everything was ready; her endless planning had come down to this one, single day. She pressed to go up on the elevator. Waiting only for a brief second, the doors opened and she stepped in.

She pressed the button labeled 20, and the doors closed behind her. Corrine stood there stiffly, waiting. It felt like the longest elevator ride she'd ever taken. After what seemed like forever, the doors opened and she rushed to her apartment.

She opened to closet door, and pulled out her suit. Her tight spandex suit, it seemed so unoriginal to make it out of that, but it was a good idea. The downside was that it took forever to put on, being only one piece, not two. But, the suit was able to let her body move around in it quickly, and with the speed that she desired.

Putting on her small, black mask that formulated around her eyes, she checked her watch. It was quarter to nine. _Perfect…_ she thought, _just enough time._ She grabbed her small metal rod from her purse.

She pressed the end of it and it enlarged itself to four feet long. Corrine put it in it long, cylindrical case and was strapped to her back. She opened the door to her balcony and began her private mission.

**A/N So sorry that that was such a short chapter, but I had to do it! It gets much, much better I promise! Please review, though, please, it rocks to get reviews!**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer- Everything that's not Corrine Beaumont is mine, everything else, (Batman, Penguin...ect) isn't, it's Tim Burton's.

_Chapter 4_

Corrine looked down the window that was atop the Gotham Museum. She smiled; there was only one guard on duty, just as she had expected. And he was asleep in an archaic chair that was by a display of colonial times.

She reached back for her rod and gently pulled it out of its case. She held the rod out in front of her, just over the glass panel.

"_Program eight-zero-two_," She whispered. As soon as she finished her words, the front end of the metal rod folded in and revealed a very small red light. A small laser beam.

Corrine held her breath as the beam cut slowly into the glass. After what seemed like an hour, it was finished. She removed the glass, and it revealed a small hole, just big enough for her to get through without setting any alarms.

"_Program four-zero-zero_," She said and the end of the other side of the rod transfigured into a large metal claw. She hooked it to the edge of the window and pulled it, hard, just to make sure that it wouldn't give way.

"_Good, now, program two-four-two_," She said, and a thin, rope-like device came from what the metal rod was. At the end was a small metalclamp and Corrine took it and hooked it to the belt that she was wearing. She pulled again, just to be sure, but it didn't budge.

She gently, and quietly crawled through the hole. She looked down; the guard was still in a deep sleep. Using the rope, Corrine slowly started to move herself. The sound of her black gloves against the rope made a loud sound, but the guard didn't stir.

She stopped as her body floated a few feet off the floor. She took a small dagger out of a compartment on her belt. Looking around slightly, the found a small metal box attached to the wall.

Corrine raised her arm and through it, as hard as she could at the box. A few sparks can out of it before she knew she had fully broken it. Sheused her hands and pulled herself up by grabbing the rope.Gently, she lowered herself and let her black heels touch the tiled floor. No alarms went off because she had deactivated the motion sensors.

"_End program,"_ She said, and the rope wheeled back into the rod and came back to her out-stretched hand.

Corrine looked down a long hallway. She thought back to her carefully planned map. She was supposed to go down this hallway, which led to the painting section of the museum.

She quickly, but stealthily ran through the halls but finally stopped as she entered the famous paintings wing of the museum.

She looked back behind her, thinking she heard the guard stirring, but he was still asleep. She crept toward the far back of the art wing, just as her map had been planned out. In the back of the art wind was a special section for brand new paintings. Her Hamigasi painting was hung on the wall, just asking to be stolen.

Slowly, Corrine walked over to it, her rod ready to be used. She took out a second dagger, and threw it into a second box that was above the painting. It hummed for a second; then a few sparks flew out and she knew she had disabled the motion sensor alarm.

"_Program six-two-six_," She whispered as the metal rod transformed into a small, metal screwdriver.

Carefully, she removed each metal latch that held the painting in its frame. After a good ten minutes, she finally broke through the glass barrier. She set the panel on the ground beside her.

She could feel the beads of sweat cascading down the sides of her face, she was greatly under pressure and she knew that she didn't have much time.

Her breath quickened as she reached up toward the painting. Her black gloves caressed the painting of a Japanese warrior. A female warrior, which made it even more rare.

She pulled it down, a little bit at a time. After a few pulls, she finally got the long painting in her grasp. Corrine rolled it up and put it inside the cylindrical case on her back.

Corrine smiled, she had completed her task.

But her happiness faded away when she heard a loud ring fill the air. It wouldn't stop; she turned back toward the frame. She could see red lights inside of it blinking on and off.

"_Shit, alarms _inside_ the picture!"_ She said out loud.

"Hey! This way! Come on!" Corrine heard voices in the distance, probably security men.

She looked both ways; she original path that she had come in didn't have guards running toward her. She breathed irregularly as she sprinted down the hall.

"This way!" She still was running as fast as she could toward where her entryway was.

_Only a little way farther!_ She thought, as her body was moving with unmanageable speed.

"_Finally_!" She breathed a sigh of relief as she looked up toward the ceiling and her window with a whole in it was there.

"_Programs_ _four-zero-zero and program two-four-two!_" The claw-like device shot up from the rod, though the whole and clung to the side of the window panel. The rope came out of nowhere and was long enough for her to grab.

"Hey! What do you think your doing!" A desperately overweight security man was puffing over to her, with a gun in his plump hand.

"Brother, can't they just let anyone leave?" With a single kick of her leg, the gun flew out of his hand and landed on the hard floor, twenty feet away.

The sound of metal against steel rang out through the entire museum. Corrine clung to the rope as it slowly lifted her off the ground. She didn't feel like sticking around to see who else heard that sound.

She climbed out of the glass hole and grabbed her rod, which had changed back to its original shape. Corrine didn't look back as she sprinted across the rooftop.

She ran like a gazelle, jumping over any random roof objects in her way. But, suddenly, she felt her feet being tied together as she was in mid prance.

"Ughhh!" She fell to the ground, hard. She felt the sandpaper rooftop tear into the side of her cheek as she scraped across it with the front of her body. When she finally stopped she looked behind her, to see who had to balls to pull that off.

No one was there. She looked at the bindings around her ankles. At the ends of them was the familiar bat symbol.

"Oh, no" She whispered and looked up again. Finally, a large, dark figure came out of the shadows. He was tall and was wearing a dark cape.

"Batman," Corrine gasped as a strange aroma filled her airway, and her arms, which were the only thing holding her up gave way and she fully collapsed on the hard ground.

A/N Hey guys, that was just another chappie, please review. And people have been asking when Penguin was coming in, and it's soon, don't worry. Seriously, review, I have no life and this is what I check everyday.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Ughhh," Corrine groaned as she lifted up her head. Her eyes were glazed over as they adjusted to the sudden light. Using her arms, she pushed herself up off from where she laid. Her eyes were in focus now. Corrine lifted her hand and touched her face.

"My… my mask…" She was fearful as she recalled what had happened the previous night. "Oh, no…" She was fully awake now.

Corrine looked down, her black suit was still on, which was probably the cause of no one but her knew how to get it off. She was lying on the top of a bunk bed, she realized, and looked around her new room.

"Oh, shit," She said as she peered at the bars holding her in her small bed quarters. She swung her legs over the side of the bunk and slid off. She went out to the bars and tried to see where she was. She looked to her left, and saw policemen at the long end of the hall eating and drinking coffee, talking about nothing important.

She backed off the bars and ran her hands threw her short, black hair, "I'm… I'm in, a prison cell." She started to panic; she had never been caught before. Ever. She started looking for ways to escape.

_No… no, mustn't do that,_ she thought, _I'd just find myself with a longer sentence._

"Hey! I think _Sleeping Beauty's_ awake!" Called a man's voice, probably a cop that heard her muttering.

Corrine thought fast and jumped on the top part of her bunk bed, hoping to elude them. But it was a fruitless effort, for they still could see her.

"Looks like your little 'Midnight Rampage' didn't work out too well, huh, princess?" Said the cop as her held out her empty tube, which had once held the painting. His two buddies that were standing next to him laughed.

Corrine ignored them, hoping that they would be caught taunting an inmate and get in trouble for it.

"Ohhhh, is the little princess angry that we're right?" She whipped her head around, upon hearing her pet name that her father had given her. She started feeling the same rush that she only got when she was going to bash someone's brains in.

"Did I hit a nerve?" He continued taunting her, and the other cops laughed again. Corrine just closed her eyes and imagined someone came and rescued her form this nightmare. _I've never been caught…. Why didn't I realize there would be alarms inside the picture?_

"Hey! What are you three doin'? I thought I asked you _an hour ago_ to fill up the arson reports that happened last week, huh? You don't have time to ridicule the inmates!" A large man with a toothpick in his mouth and a trench coat and a crooked hat on came over to the cops. Obviously he was higher up in the judicial system then they were, because they turned pale when they realized who was yelling at them and scurried to do their paper work.

She turned her head to look at him, and he gave her a very small smile. "Hey, Commissioner Gordon wants to see you." He took out a set of keys and unlocked the bars for her. She metal poles clanked together as he pushed them into each other.

She jumped of the bunk and walked out into the hallway. She proceeded to start walking, but he cleared his throat loudly. She turned around and he was dangling a pair of handcuffs out in front of her face.

"Hey, I'm not that kind of girl, officer," she smiled weakly.

He blushed slightly, "Well, now that's too bad." He said as her placed them gently around her wrists.

* * *

The interrogation room was cold, very cold. She figured it kept people from going anywhere if they were completely frozen.

She sat there alone for a few minutes, apparently the Commissioner was running late today.

Suddenly, the door swung open as a tall, white haired man with spectacles and a mustache came in.

"Sorry I'm late," he mumbled to no one in particular and he threw off his coat and put it on the back of a hook.

He pulled out the chair and took a seat. He looked around the room, "Where's your lawyer?" He asked, somewhat confused.

Corrine sat there for a moment, "I representing myself," she said boldly.

Gordon took of his glasses a used his shirt to clean them off, "Are your sure? You are looking at some pretty serious charges, young lady."

"I'm well aware of that, and yes, I'm sure."

"Miss, Beaumont, is it? Corrine?"

She looked at him blankly, "Yeah."

"After some investigation, we have concluded that this was not your first attempted robbery, was it?" He commented on the fact rather then it being asked as a question.

"No, it wasn't," she felt it would be pointless to lie, seeing as it would only lead to worse things.

"Miss. Beaumont, you are looking at almost twenty years in prison for this," he paused, "Miss Beaumont?"

Corrine sat there, completely frozen. _Twenty years…twenty years! Oh my God…_

"Miss. Beaumont? Are you alright?" Gordon asked standing up swiftly.

She came back from her daydream quickly, "Yes… yes I'm fine. Is there, is there any way to, to shorten the sentence?" She asked, looking up at the Commissioner.

"I'm afraid that would be the shortest possible sentence, and that's with good behavior, however."

She sat there completely stunned. "I-I…"

Suddenly, the door to the interrogation room sung open with full force. Her head and Gordon's looked in its direction.

From out of the shadows walked in the Batman, "I think there might be a way, Miss. Beaumont." He looked to Gordon.

"No, no Batman, not her," He suddenly spurted out.

"Commissioner," Batman said warningly.

"No! I will not have this young lady risk-"

"You said yourself, someone around her age and-"

"Let's not talk about it in here," Gordon started and the both went outside and closed the door.

Corrine strained to listen, but she could only hear broken off sentences:

"You said, a pretty young girl with a good sense of what Cobblepot is all about."

"I know, but, she's-"

"She's perfect, and she would do anything to get her sentence reduced. You don't like it because she reminds you of Barbara."

"That's not true and-"

"Then why not? Obviously she can handle anything dangerous. She is absolutely perfect, and both of us knows it."

There was a long pause, then, "Okay."

The door opened and Corrine leaned back in her chair, trying to look like she hadn't been listening. Gordon took a seat while Batman was still standing in the shadows.

"We have a proposition for you, Miss. Beaumont," Gordon started, but he was eyeing Batman.

"Are you aware of Oswald Cobblepot?" He asked her.

Corrine stared at him queerly, "Isn't that that bird man who tried to take over or something? The Penguin? Didn't he die, that's what the paper said."

Batman answered, "Yes, it is The Penguin, but he is still alive and at large. Word on the street is that he is supposed planning something very, very big. But, we have no idea what that is. And we need someone to help us decipher what that is."

She looked at them both, "I'll do it," she replied without hesitation, and nodded her head.

Gordon eyed Batman, "Are you sure, Miss. Beaumont. The Penguin is a very dangerous man. Not as easy as defeating weak security men."

She blushed slightly, "Look, Commish, I will do anything to get my freedom. I'd rather do it then rot in jail. How much time-"

"Well… that depends. If you do a very good job, you might be lucky enough to got all the time off. But, maybe just five or ten, depending." Gordon replied.

"Deal, but what exactly do I—"

"First, you have to change your look completely. Hair, eyes, the works." Gordon started looking in a manila folder, "You need to make up a false name that you can easily answer to, like a nickname or something. How long does it take for your hair to grow out?"

Corrine spaced out for a minute, _my, my hair? I have to change my hair? Well, I can always change it back though…_ "How long? Only a few weeks…"

"Good, because we want it longer then it is. And your hair color too, how about a blonde, that looks completely different from what it is right now."

"Fine, I'll do it. I'll pick up some colored contacts, too." She bowed her head down and started playing with her fingers.

"Perfect, now, we still don't now where The Penguin is yet, but Batman has a plan to figure that out. Don't you?" He turned to him and raised his white eyebrows.

Batman gave her a small smile, "Hope you like to dance."

A/N Yeah, another chapter…. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeese review, it rocks to get reviews. Please.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N (Disclaimer) The Penguin does not belong to me; neither does Batman or any other of Bob Kane's characters. The Penguin in my story belongs to Tim Burton, who has created this new type of Penguin. Corrine Beaumont© and everyone else are mine, of course.

Chapter 6- One Month Later

Corrine looked at herself in the mirror of her bathroom, not believing how different she had looked. Her eyes had changed from her light blue to a piercing green, thanks to her new colored contacts.

Her hair, her hair had become completely unrecognizable. She was so used to having in a pixie-cut for so long, it had taken a while for her to remember the feeling of hair down her back. Now, it was long flowing curls to a few inches past her shoulders. She was completely amazed at how long it had become in such a short amount of time.

Not only lengthwise was her hair different, but also the color was completely different.

Now, instead of being her usual dark raven color, it was now completely silver-blonde. She refused to let the hairdresser make it regular blonde, it would go for everything she was against. So, she had chosen a more silver type of color, and she actually liked it a little. But, as soon as this ordeal ended, she would change it back, if she could.

Corrine quickly did her make up and left the bathroom. She put on a pair of jeans and a white-laced camisole. She grabbed her black leather jacket and put it on over the cami. Corrine turned off all the light and locked her apartment door after she closed it behind her.

Tonight she had her first, well, technically third, meeting with the Batman. She had no idea why, but he just said to be outside the Gotham City Bakery at ten-thirty sharp. Of course, she couldn't object, she'd rather do this that rot away in a jail cell for 20 years. This seemed to be the best way.

Corrine was met with an icy cold wind when she walked out of the apartment complex. She shivered and wrapped her coat around herself more tightly, hoping to shield herself from the vindictive winter.

She continued walking until she was at an intersection, she ran across the busy street to the other side and was greeted by angry horns. She stopped and took a deep breath, and looked up at the small building in front of her, it read Gotham City Baker. She checked her watch, and it blinked back 10:29, she was a minute early. She stood there in a silence.

She abruptly heard the loud screech of tire on pavement coming from a distance away. Corrine looked in each direction, but couldn't see anything, but as she thought that, a long black car came out of nowhere and stopped in front of her with a long shriek. The top of the beast rolled backwards to reveal Batman sitting inside of it.

"Get in," he said gruffly a Corrine jumped off the curb and into the front seat. The top rolled back on and they sped away.

She looked around the car in amazement, "Wow, this thing is _huge,"_ she peered at all the blinking buttons on the dashboard in front of him. It took all her will power not to touch anything.

"Yes, it is big. It's the _Batmobile_," he said it slowly as if speaking to a child with no knowledge of the outside world.

"Hmmm, how creative," she said sarcastically and sat back in her seat, pouting slightly. "Where are we going, exactly?" She asked as she looked out the dark, tinted window, watching the city drive by with unbelievable speed.

He ignored her and just kept driving. They sat in silence for the next few minutes, until he got a bag and handed it to her.

"Put this on," he demanded rather then asked. Corrine made a face and looked inside he bag. She reached in and pulled out an outfit of some kind. It was tan, like it was made out of a hide.

"Umm, where do I change?" She looked around the automobile and saw that it was impossible to change with the pleasure of privacy.

He grunted, as if this was a chore for him, like a brother driving around his kid sister, "Go in the back, I'll put the shield up.

She raised her eyebrows, but responded, "I'll change when we get there," she said smugly as she put the outfit back in the bag. "Wherever it is," She mumbled.

He ignored her, which she took as a yes to her statement.

She was almost starting to fall asleep when she felt a sudden jerk in the car as it stopped. Her head was thrown forward and almost hit the airbag holder if not for her seatbelt. "A little warning would be appreciated," Corrine said sarcastically as she rubbed her forehead.

Holding the bag tightly, she stepped out and her high heels came in contact with gravel. She looked around, there was nothing for miles but a poorly constructed road made of broken up chunks of concrete mixed with dirt. She was confused, _where are we?_

Corrine turned around as was greeted with many flashing lights on top of a wide, small-roofed building. The neon sign spelled out with cursive letting _Night Lights._ Underneath it in subtext was written, _Hot Girls, Wild Times, Live 24/7!_

She read the flashing illuminations in horror, and dropped the bag in her hand and backed away towards the Batmobile.

"No, no freakin' way, I am not doing this, Batman. This completely crosses the line." She turned around and walked in long strides to the long car. Corrine felt her hand being grabbed and she whipped around to meet eye to eye with the Dark Knight. She stared at him defiantly, but he stared back harder then she ever would.

His dark eyes yelled at her, telling her that this was her only chance… her last chance. They were telling her to swallow her pride and get this ordeal over with as soon as possible.

She groaned, and said grudgingly, "Fine, whatever, let's get through this." She stooped toward the ground and grabbed her outfit. Corrine strutted, her head held high as she walked toward the building. Batman was one step behind her, silent, but happy knowing that he had gotten through to her.

Corrine stared at herself in the mirror and sighed. The dressing room smelled of alcohol, cigarettes and cheap perfume, _and_ it was poorly lit. She sat on a barely put together chair and was peering at herself in a dusty mirror. She applied a lot of make-up on her face; she was trying to be as unrecognizable as possible.

She heard cheers come from outside the dressing room and loud music, so loud that she couldn't determine the type of music it was, let alone they name of the song. There were a few other girls in the room with the same outfit on that she had. Two were talking about how much money they were hoping on making that night.

There was a dark-skinned girl two seats away from hers; she was staring at a picture that was taped to her own dusty mirror. She took in a big sigh and started applying make-up on her eyes. She took black eyeliner and almost completely covered her eyes with it. Even though it was evenly put on, it was obvious that it was too much. She continued to put it on until she was finished.

She lifted up her head and caught Corrine's eye. Corrine quickly felt embarrassed that the girl found out she was staring at her. But she gave Corrine a small smile, and she got up out of her seat and sat down in the one next to her.

"You're new here, aren't you?" She said in a weak voice.

"Yeah, today's my first day," Corrine answered.

"What's you're name?" She asked.

"Estelle…" Corrine lied hesitantly, she didn't like lying to people, but the Batman told her to tell people a fake name, just in case.

"That's not your real name, is it? It's okay, we all have stage names, and mine is Rose. But my real name is Angelique, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said with a large, white smile.

"Thanks, but I'd rather not—"

"No, it's okay, we just met. I understand, I'm sorry, I always jump into things, it's just the way I am," She lowered her head and looked down at her hands on her lap.

Corrine felt guilt surge thru her body at rapid speed, "Hey, I'm sorry, I don't trust people I just met, that's just the way I am. Nothing against you," She apologized.

"It's okay," Angelique responded as she looked up and smiled at Corrine.

Corrine smiled back, she felt awful, and she decided to change the subject, "What's that picture of?" She asked her as she pointed to a photograph taped on Angelique's mirror.

"Oh," She walked over and pulled it of her own mirror, "This is my son, Jacob, he'll be three next month," She handed Corrine the picture.

She looked at it; a small dark skinned boy was looking back up at her with dark eyes, her heart melted. He was holding a sipee cup and had on a dirty white tee shirt. "Oh, he's so cute," she handed back the picture.

"Thanks," she taped it back on her mirror.

"Ladies!" A slicked back man walked into the room, his skinny arms in the air.

"Johnny!" They all chanted.

Immediately, the all the girls in the room stood up, Corrine and Angelique did the same. "Ladies, it's almost show time! Aaaand, we have a new addition to out little party, this is Estelle, and she will be doing the table dances!" He walked over and put his arms around Corrine's shoulders and started twirling her silver blonde hair with his greasy finger. There was mild clapping throughout the room.

"Ugh!" She ducked underneath his arm and jumped away. He didn't seem to notice her not being there, so he continued on giving his little speech anyways.

"Okay ladies… you on, in five, four, three, two, one…." The girls in their uniforms immediately followed each other thru the old curtains into the room with all the men in it.

Corrine and Angelique were last out of the room, "Where do I go?" Corrine whispered the question to her.

"To those tables over there, just pick one, I'm on those, too," Corrine followed her to some booths with tables with a long pole extending upward from each of them. There were about five booths all together and in two of them were men.

Corrine racked her memory to remember what Batman said about the man she was looking for. _Really big… baldhead… tiny eyes,_ luckily, there was a large man and a very tiny man in the table next to his. So it was obviously easy to choose from.

"I'll take the big one," she whispered to Angelique.

"Oh, _thank you_, he comes in here every Friday, he is very rude, not afraid to 'pet the animal', if you know what I mean," She whispered back to Corrine.

_Great… _she thought, but proceeded to that table.

He grinned at her when he saw her walking towards him, "Heyyyy girrrrll," He slurred, obviously he was a little drunk.

Corrine chose not to respond as she stepped up on the table. She sighed inwardly, and thought that if she did this as quickly as possible, the faster she would be out of here and the faster she could place this as just another forgotten memory.

She grabbed the pole and started to dance with it, moving up and down with her own rhythm. She climbed up to the top of it and hooked her legs together and hung upside down, her long silver hair touching the surface of the table. Corrine smiled at him from that odd angle and he smiled happily, like a child excited to get candy from his aunt.

Corrine flipped over slowly and tossed her hair back; she squatted down at him, making eye contact with him. He stopped smiling for a minute, completely mesmerized by her bright green eyes. She winked at him, and crawled on her knees closer to him and whispered in his ear, "Hey, big boy," She leaned back and grinned at him again.

He suddenly took a large gulp from his beer and then accidentally dropped it on the ground; it shattered into a thousand pieces. He didn't care, though; he had never lost eye contact with her.

"I have a little question for you my friend," she said seductively as she stood up again.

"Whatever you want my little princess," he said, he was still completely mesmerized.

_Ughh_, she shuddered, _that is gross. I'm here for 6 minutes and he already has a nickname for me. _

"Do you remember a man named, the Penguin?" She asked and she danced more in front of him.

He looked at her strangely, "What does a pretty girl like you want with a freak like Cobblepot?"

She inched closer to him and whispered in his ear, "Maybe I'm looking for him," she seduced him.

"Oh, I see, he owes ya somethin'?" He whispered back.

"In a way…" she said. She inched closer to him, "Didn't you used to work for him?"

"Yeah…" he laughed, like he was under the impression that that impressed her. He was too drunk to wonder where she got that information. "Yeah, I was in that freak show gang of his a couple years back." He swayed a little, "They called me the world's fattest man," He snorted a little after he said that.

"You!" She faked a gasp, "No, not with all this muscle!" She squeezed the fat on his arms tightly.

He blushed, and she felt more confident now that she could get all the info out of him without a problem.

"So, Muscle Man, are you smart, too?" She asked flirtatiously.

"Well, I did finish the 9th grade…" He giggled, still drunk.

"Soo, do you know where that Penguin is hiding out, then?" She asked, moving towards him a little closer

"Yeah! Yeah! I do! He's at the factory!" He said loudly, and happily.

Corrine looked at him queerly, "Umm, could you be a little bit more specific then that?"

"Yeah, he's at that music factory! The one by the pier!" He exclaimed.

She racked her brain, trying to figure out what he was talking about, then, it hit her. "Burdocks? Burdocks factory, the one that has been abandoned, that used to make pianos?"

"Yeah! That one!" He said drunkly.

She sat back and breathed a sigh of relief, it was over. She had finally found out where he was. She smiled a little.

"Soo," He leaned in closer to her, his breath reeking of alcohol, "Do I get a reward for helping?" He grinned.

She stared with him with disgust, and then she decided to give him one, "Yes, now, close your eyes, and pucker up."

"Oh! A kiss, do I get a kiss!" He puckered up happily and closed his eyes.

She smiled viciously, "Something like that."

Corrine jumped off the table and reared her fist back, then, with all her known force, she punched him square in the eye, completely knocking him backwards off the chair.

"Ahh!" He fell back, clutching his eye.

"Have fun with that, Tiger." She said, and stormed out of the club, never to return.

A/N Hey, this story mayyy be a little long, but bare with me. Reviews are HIGHLY APPRICAITED! Please! They rock!


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